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Lorine Niedecker
Lorine Niedecker (pronounced Needecker) (May 12, 1903 - December 31, 1970) was an American poet. The only woman associated with the Objectivist poets, she is widely credited for demonstrating how an Objectivist poetic could handle the personal as subject matter. Life Youth Niedecker was born on Black Hawk Island near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and lived most of her life in rural isolation. She grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds of the river until she moved to Fort Atkinson to attend school. This world of birds, trees, water and marsh was to inform her poetry for the rest of her life. On graduating from high school in 1922, she went to Beloit College to study literature but left after two years to take care of her ailing mother. She married in 1928, but this relationship lasted only two years. Early writings Niedecker's earliest poetry was marked by her reading of the Imagists, whose work she greatly admired and of surrealism. In 1931, she read the Objectivist issue of Poetry. She was fascinated by what she saw and immediately wrote to Louis Zukofsky, who had edited the issue, sending him her latest poems. This was the beginning of what proved to be a most important relationship for her development as a poet. Zukofsky suggested sending them to Poetry, where they were accepted for publication. Suddenly, Niedecker found herself in direct contact with the American poetic avant-garde. Near the end of 1933, Niedecker visited Zukofsky in New York City for the first time and became pregnant with his child. He insisted that she have an abortion, which she did, although they remained friends and continued to carry on a mutually beneficial correspondence following Niedecker's return to Fort Atkinson.Introduction to Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works, ISBN 0-520-22433-7, Edited by Jenny Penberthy - Jacket (magazine) From the mid 1930s, Niedecker moved away from surrealism and started writing poems that engaged more directly with social and political realities and on her own immediate rural surroundings. Her first book, New Goose (1946), collected many of these poems. Neglect Niedecker was not to publish another book for 15 years. In 1949, she began work on a poem sequence called For Paul, named for Zukofsky's son."Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works" by Jenny Pernberthy (2002); http://jacketmagazine.com/18/penb-nied.html Unfortunately, Zukofsky was uncomfortable with what he viewed as the overly personal and intrusive nature of the content of the 72 poems she eventually collected under this title and discouraged publication. Partly because of her geographical isolation, even magazine publication was not easily available and in 1955 she claimed that she had published work only 6 times in the previous 10 years. Late Flowering The 1960s saw a revival of interest in Niedecker's work. Wild Hawthorn Press and Fulcrum Press, both British-based, published books and magazine publication became regular. She was also befriended by a number of poets, including Cid Corman, Basil Bunting and several younger British and US poets who were interested in reclaiming the modernist heritage. Her books published in the last few decades of her life included My Friend Tree, T & G: The Collected Poems, 1936–1966, North Central, and My Life By Water. Encouraged by this interest, Niedecker started writing again. She had previously earned her living scrubbing hospital floors, "reading proof" at a local magazine, and renting cottages, and had lived at the edge of poverty for years. However, her marriage in 1963 to Al Millen brought financial stability back into her life. She died in 1970 leaving several unpublished typescripts. Many other Niedecker papers were burned by Millen, who said he did so at Niedecker's request. Her name was added to her parents' headstone which uses the original spelling of the family name, Neidecker. Lorine had her name changed to the Niedecker spelling when she was in her twenties. Recognition Niedecker's comprehensive Collected Works, edited by Jenny Penberthy, were published by the University of California Press in 2002. A centennial celebration of Niedecker's life and work, held in Milwaukee and Fort Atkinson in 2003, included treks to her two Rock River-edged homes on Black Hawk Island and symposium sessions including presentations by scholars and poets. Corman, Niedecker's literary executor who lived most of his creative life in Japan, made his last appearance in the United States during this event. Publications Poetry *''New Goose.'' Prairie City, IL: Press of James A. Decker, 1946. *''My Friend Tree: Poems.'' Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1961. *''North Central.'' London: Fulcrum Press, 1968. *''T & G: The collected poems, 1936–1966.'' Penland, NC: Jargon Society, 1969. *''My Life by Water: Collected poems, 1936-1968.'' London: Fulcrum Press, 1970. *''Blue Chicory'' (edited by Cid Corman), New Rochelle, NY: Elizabeth Press, 1976. *''The Granite Pail: Selected poems'' (edited by Cid Corman). San Francisco: North Point Press, 1985. *''Harpsichord & Salt Fish''. Durham, NC: Pig Press, 1991. Collected editions *''From This Condensery: The complete writings of Lorine Niedecker'' (edited by Robert J. Bertholf). Jargon Society / Inland Book Company, 1985. *''Collected Works'' (edited by Jenny Lynn Penberthy). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN 0-520-22433-7 Letters *''Between Your House and Mine: Letters of Lorine Niedecker to Cid Corman, 1960-1970'' (edited by Lisa Pater Faranda). Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1986. *''Niedecker and the Correspondence with Zukofsky, 1931-1970''. Cambridge, UK, & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Lorine Niedecker, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 15, 2012. See also *Objectivist poets *List of U.S. poets References Fonds The primary Niedecker archives are in the Dwight Foster Public Library (which inherited Niedecker's personal library) and the Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson (which holds a collection of Niedecker's papers, as preserved and donated by her neighbor and close friend, Gail Roub). *Historic Fort Atkinson Collection with pictures and papers from the Lorine Niedecker Archives Notes External links ;Poems *Lorine Niedecker profile & 5 poems at the Academy of American Poets *Lorine Niedecker 1903-1970 at the Poetry Foundation *Lorine Niedecker @ EPC (Electronic Poetry Center) *Lorine Niedecker: Online Poems *Poetry ;Audio / video *Lorine Niedecker at YouTube ;Books *Facsimile of complete "Paean to Place" autograph edition *Lorine Niedecker at Amazon.com * ;About *Web guide *"Who Was Lorine Niedecker?" by Elizabeth Willis *Lorine Niedecker (1903?-1970) at Modern American Poetry. *Lorine Niedecker Official website. *Jeffery Beam's appreciation "Old Sunflower, You Bowed to No One" in "Oyster Boy Review" ;Etc. *NY Times review of Kristine Thatcher's play "Niedecker" *Interview with filmmaker Cathy Cook on her film about Lorine Niedecker, Immortal Cupboard: In Search of Lorine Niedecker Category:American poets Category:Beloit College alumni Category:Modernist women writers Category:Objectivist poets Category:1903 births Category:1970 deaths Category:Writers from Wisconsin Category:People from Jefferson County, Wisconsin Category:American women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Modernist poets Category:Women poets